Interlinking India’s growth to the government’s Digital India programme, IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said increased computer literacy and growing use of mobile internet will help push India's Internet economy to USD 200 billion by 2020.
The minister was speaking at the release of a report by IAMAI and The Boston Consulting Group.
According to the report ‘India@Digital.Bharat’, India is heading towards an internet economy worth USD 200 billion by 2020, that will contribute 5 per cent of the GDP. In 2013 alone, it contributed USD 60 billion or 2.7 per cent of India’s GDP.
“For this, we need to move at a fast pace towards computer literacy. The other key area which will help the internet economy to grow is mobile internet,” Mr. Prasad said, adding the government is committed to digitisation and is looking extensive PPP for successful implementation.
The minister said there is a need to create hubs in rural India that will help grow e-commerce.
“Unless connectivity reaches every village of India, they dynamics of growth will remain unchanged… It took 30 years to cover 10 lakh km of optic fibre laying, and in just next 3 years7 lakh km will be added, making rural connectivity a reality,” he said.
According to the report, Internet users in India will jump from 190 million as of June 2014 to over 550 million by 2018.
